Magic
by Brookester27
Summary: You never know, a few magic tricks just might be the way to win over a girl's heart. Rated T for language. Beca and Benji.


**Okay, first of all, I want to start this off by saying that this is all HurriCADE's fault that I now ship these two. They probably don't even have their own ship name, but Benca suits them just fine. It is also all HurriCADE's fault that my old passion for magic has now been rekindled and now I'm performing nerdy little card tricks all day long. I even perform for my dogs, for fucks sake!**

**I probably just gave HurriCADE's ego a great big boost... Oh well! **

* * *

"Dammit, Benji, how do you do that?" Beca demanded. Her stormy blue orbs bored into the card the shy boy was holding up. It was the ace of spades – the card Beca had randomly chosen from the deck – and Benji had pulled the card from behind her ear.

Benji smiled shyly. "Magic."

Beca playfully rolled her eyes, opting to lean back onto her elbows and watch the magician shuffle his deck of cards. She unconsciously gnawed on her lower lip as she got lost in her thoughts, still watching her friend as he made a card appear then disappear into thin air. The brunette sat up again. Benji noticed the thoughtful expression on the girl's face and halted his movements to give her all of his attention.

"Benj?"

"Yeah, Bec?"

"Do you think you could teach me a trick?"

Of all the things Beca could've asked, that was the least expected. Benji was never asked to teach a trick. He performed one, received a brief expression of wonder, and then the spectator would usually walk away. Beca never did that though. That was the thing Benji liked so much about the small woman. She would demanded trick after trick and would still be amazed with the same trick even after seeing it seven times. It really shouldn't have come to be such a big surprise that Beca wanted to learn a bit of magic as well.

"Sure."

Benji was met with a blinding smile that never appeared around anyone else. He flashed his own shy smile before readying his deck of cards. He had an eager brunette anxious to start learning.

* * *

Beca growled in frustration as the cards went flying everywhere when she was only trying to _shuffle_ them. The corner of Benji's mouth lifted in amusement before he helped Beca gather up all the cards that had spewed around the room. Once they were all gathered up, the two sat across from each other on the floor once again.

"Want me to show you again?" Benji asked, noticing the slight downward tilt of Beca's lips. Not that he was staring or anything. He was just…observing her features is all.

"Please do."

Benji quickly shuffled the cards before slowly going through the motions of the trick, Beca paying rapt attention. When it was Beca's turn to perform it, she went through it rather quickly. Other than the occasional card slipping out of the deck, it was performed flawlessly.

"Congratulations!" Benji exclaimed. "You're now a level one wizard!"

Beca snorted as she handed Benji his deck of cards. Their fingers brushed during the exchange and Benji hurriedly started up another trick to keep the girl's attention away from the rising heat in his face. He spread the cards out in his hands and routinely said, "Pick a card, any card!"

The brunette grinned and took a card, shielding it with her hands. She memorized her card as Benji split the deck into three somewhat equal piles.

"What now?" Beca asked. This was a new trick that the boy hadn't showed her yet.

"Place your card on any pile once you're absolutely certain you'll remember it in a minute," Benji instructed. Beca nodded and placed her card face down on the middle pile. The boy then stacked the piles again then started laying the cards face up out on the floor in front of him in piles of five to seven. Beca only caught a glimpse of her card before Benji started piling the cards together again. "Now, your card was the ace of hearts, correct?"

Beca raised an eyebrow. "No."

"Oh. Then what was it?"

"Seven of hearts."

Benji grinned and started laying out cards until he had one card for every letter. "S-E-V-E-N O-F H-E-A-R-T-S." He pulled a card from the top of the deck and threw it face up on top of the others. The red seven of hearts showed.

"That's pretty cool, dude," Beca commented with a lopsided grin. "How'd you do that?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets," Benji said slyly as he stacked his cards again.

"But you just taught me a trick!"

"That was an entirely different circumstance."

"Fine." The girl pouted. "But can you at least do it again?"

Benji pretended to contemplate the answer to that. Beca pouted once again, her stormy blues capturing Benji's chocolate hues. The magician's resolve crumbled and he started up the trick again. With a triumphant smile, Beca drew a card and watched in amazement as Benji went through the long and seemingly complicated process of finding her card again.

* * *

"Alright, ladies! That's it for today!" Beca announced, officially ending rehearsal. She turned around to grab her things from on top of the piano as per usual as the other girls filed out of the doors. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned around and came face to face with Fat Amy (or face to breasts to be more realistic in this situation). "What're you still doing here, Amy?"

The large Australian grinned. "No reason other than to tease you all the way back to your dorm," Amy said bluntly, not one for beating around the bush.

"Um, actually, I told Benji that I'd meet up with him for lunch," Beca said as she awkwardly looked down to her shuffling feet.

"You and Houdini have been spending an awful lot of time together, Shawshank," the Australian teased.

"We're friends, Amy. That's what friends do."

"You and I are friends and we don't hang out near as often as you and magic boy do." The blonde leaned in close to her captain with a devilish smirk. "I think everything is pretty obvious."

Beca turned to look up at Amy with wide eyes. A large smirk decorated the blonde's face. "W-what's pretty obvious?"

"Your blatant toners for each other, of course!"

Beca's face turned a nice shade of red that would rival their previous captain's hair color. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" The short captain then promptly turned on her heel and half-jogged, half-walked to the door, leaving the grinning Australian behind.

"Damn, the midget makes this way too easy!"

* * *

Beca tapped lightly on Benji's dorm door with a box of pizza in one hand. She was still amazed as to how her friend had gotten a single dorm (it was extremely difficult to get hold of a single if you're just a sophomore). She just assumed that he would room with Jesse again, but he was always full of surprises. Literally.

"Come in!"

The short brunette pushed the door open. Benji was nowhere to be seen. Beca cautiously perched on the edge of his bed – which was clad in a Star Wars comforter – and eyed his magic box suspiciously. Sure enough, the lid to the box was lifted and Benji stepped out, flashing his usual shy smile.

"What's on the menu today?" Benji joked, rubbing his hands together before lifting the lid of the pizza box, revealing the half-pepperoni-and-jalapeño and half-pepperoni circular piece of heaven.

Beca took a slice of supreme and jalapeño and Benji grabbed a pepperoni slice. The shorter brunette of the two smiled widely before taking a large bite of her pizza, Benji doing the same seconds later. Benji stood from his seat on the bed and walked to the mini fridge he kept in the corner of the room.

"Coke, Fanta, or water?" he asked through his mouthful of food.

"Coke. The answer will a_lways _be coke," Beca answered. "You know I don't drink fruity soda and I only drink water during Bellas rehearsals."

"Why?"

Beca raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why what?"

Benji waved a hand to dismiss the question and simply handed Beca her soda. She took another bite of her pizza, unfortunately knocking an jalapeño off her slice and it landed in her lap.

"Dammit," she muttered. Benji grabbed a napkin from seemingly nowhere and handed it over with a smug grin. "That magic of yours really comes in handy." She received a modest shrug in reply.

* * *

A wave of nerves washed over Benji as he caught sight of Beca approaching him from across the quad. She shot him a quick smile before shuffling through a group of obnoxious looking girls. Benji offered her the usual shy smile as she settled down on the grass in front of him, tucking her converse clad feet underneath her.

"So, I, um, learned a new trick that I'd like to show you," Benji started nervously as he picked a blade of grass and rolled it between his fingers.

"Really?" Beca asked, her interest already peaked. "I'd love to see it, but first, I want to show you this knot trick I learned off YouTube last night."

Benji quickly forgot about his nerves as Beca picked a particularly long piece of grass and split it in half. She tied a particular type of knot in the blade of grass and grinned as she ran her hand over the knot and it promptly disappeared.

"Wicked," Benji breathed. He had never attempted to learn a knot trick. He had always stuck to cards, illusions, and making things appear. "How'd you do that?"

"A magician never reveals her secrets," Beca replied coquettishly, accompanying her statement with a wink.

"But I taught you a trick!"

"True, but first you have to show me this new trick of yours."

The nerves settled back in to Benji's system. He nodded slowly and pulled his magic wand from his back pocket. With a quick glance up through his eyelashes at the brunette, whose gaze was latched onto the wand, he ran a hand along the wand. Beca's eyes bugged open as she watched the wand turn into a beautiful, single stemmed rose. Benji handed the flower over to the amazed girl with shaking hands. Beca took it, and upon closer inspection, she realized there was a small notecard attached to the stem. She flipped it open and immediately recognized Benji's scrawl:

_Will you possibly go on a date with me?_

The smile that graced Beca's features was blinding. She looked up and her blue gaze met Benji's. The poor boy looked on the verge of fainting. "Of course." Now the smile that overtook Benji's features was blinding. He had a _date_. An actual date.

* * *

**To my knowledge, all these tricks are possible besides the first one (I don't know, is that one possible? Probably not) and the last one (the wand can actually change into a rose, just not a real one. I needed a real one for the fic though). **

**Anyway, magic used to be an old passion of mine and I even went as far as to carry a deck of cards around everywhere I went (I was twelve, okay?) and maybe a few coins in my pocket as well. You never know when a card or coin could come in handy! Like for one, the cards can be used as fucking ninja stars and the coins can be jammed into eye sockets or up nostrils (DO ****_NOT_**** GO AROUND DOING ALL THESE VIOLENT THINGS TO PEOPLE. I SWEAR I WILL FUCKING FIND YOU). On to a lighter note, magic is just really fucking cool.**

**(Oh my god, I can't believe I told you how to turn magic into a weapon. Now all you crazies [don't worry, we're all crazy in some way or another. I'm just crazier than all of you] will go around shoving coins up some poor guy's nose. Just don't do anything violent... Just don't fucking do it.**

**Why the hell am I still talking?)**


End file.
